Just The Way You Are
by StarryKnight46
Summary: Hermione makes herself prettier to get Ron's attention. RonHermione fluff!


TITLE: Just The Way You Are

PLOT: Hermione comes up with various schemes to impress Ron…and the results are sometimes very funny.

DISCLAIMER: The characters and places in this story belong to J.K. Rowling, who is not I…But we love JK!! JK YOU ROCK

SHIPS: Ron/Hermione

MAIN CHARACTERS: Ron and Hermione, but Harry is important here, too!!

Hermione sat there in the sweaty classroom. She was not being herself lately- she hardly listened to Professor Binns as he talked about goblin wars. This was highly unusual for Hermione. You may ask, why is Hermione not taking notes? It is so unlike her!

But Hermione had a lot on her mind lately, and most of the subjects on her mind contained tall, red-haired, freckle-faced boys. If you haven't guessed, she was thinking more and more about Ron every day.

He might be sarcastic and a bit rude, but she was beginning to think that the pangs in her heart when he laughed or smiled might be just a bit more than best-friendship. The mane of red hair that encircled his face resembled a fiery halo, and in Hermione's eyes, there was no one handsomer. It was so overwhelming she found that she was barely eating at mealtimes because her time was spent thinking or daydreaming. She longed for him to know how she felt, but was terrified of what would happen if he did not return the love. Hermione was sure that if her love was not unanimous, she might just drop dead on the spot. Have you ever heard of someone dying of a broken heart? Me neither. But that's what Hermione was sure would happen to her.

"Hermione! The bell rang! Get up, it's Charms next!" Ron's voice floated, echoing, into her mind. She gave a start and, slightly flustered, collected her books and pushed them into her bag. Ron gave her a questioning look, but it vanished as Harry called, "Hurry up!"

Things were not better in Charms. They were trying to make a rabbit sprout wings and fly a few inches above the desk. Hermione, who never had trouble mastering a spell or charm, actually found it difficult to make the rabbit float. On her first attempt, short little nubs popped out of its shoulders. On her second, the wings sprouted and the rabbit whizzed up to float about ten feet over her desk. Once she got the rabbit down again, she finally managed to get it to hover, but by then half the class had made their rabbits fly. So, all in all, Hermione was very glad to reach the weekend

"I thought that week would never end!" said Hermione bitterly as she, Ron, and Harry walked down the marble staircase for dinner.

"Tell me about it," agreed Harry darkly.

Ron didn't say anything. He was staring at Hermione again; he had been catching himself doing this a lot lately and couldn't seem to stop himself from noticing how her hair fanned out behind her when she walked, how her mouth seemed to stretch slightly when she smiled, how cute she looked when her head was bent low over a piece of parchment, thinking. She would never be his…but it was fun to dream.

The three walked into the great hall for dinner. Hermione went to sit with Ginny, and Harry and Ron chose seats over by Seamus and Dean. Ginny asked Hermione,

"Hermione, are you okay? You seem…odd."

"I'm fine, I just…never mind."

"No, seriously."

"I'm just fine!" insisted Hermione.

Ginny muttered, "You don't seem fine," but didn't press the subject. For Ginny knew what was going on. This behaviour was typical for girls who were in love, and Ginny had seen it many times. Suddenly, Hermione asked, "Do you know what goes on in boys' brains?" "Do I look like a boy?" Hermione narrowed her eyes. "Seriously. Do you have any idea what they think about?" Ginny thought for a moment, and then said, "Only if they tell me what they're thinking about." This didn't really help Hermione's cause. She was eager to know what Ron thought about girls, and brown-haired, chocolate-eyed girls in particular. She decided to pay attention to Ron's taste for girls a bit more- the thought had always disgusted her, and she didn't bother to watch or listen. She did know one thing, though- Ron liked very pretty girls, and Hermione was just average. Hermione vowed then and there to make herself more beautiful. But, having had no experience in this field, she needed to ask Ginny. And asking Ginny would mean admitting her feelings. Would Ginny care if her best friend was dating her brother? Somehow, Hermione didn't think so. She said, slowly, "Ginny…can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what?"

"I…um…I need your help. You have more experience with guys than I do."

"Fire away."

Hermione glanced in both directions. No one was listening in. "I think I'm in love with Ron."

Ginny raised her eyebrows. "You think? It took the rest of us about five seconds to figure that out, and you just realized it? Well, not you exactly-" said Ginny hastily as Hermione cast her a worried face. "Ron is being obvious, too. Good thing the Slytherins are too thick to notice anything." Hermione only caught one word of this. "What do you mean by Ron? He doesn't…does he?"

"Hermione, it's so obvious! Ron fell for you ages ago!"

"But he could have changed his mind."

"No, he couldn't have, because he was asking me for help just last night."

"He was talking about…me?"

"Yes. Listen, just ask him for a private word, express your feelings, and see what happens. The worst that could happen is that-"

"He'll reject me and then I'll be too heartbroken to go to classes and then I'll have missed so much work that they'll expel me."

"Come on, it won't be too bad. Ron's my brother, and I can read his thoughts like I can think my own. He won't reject you. I promise."

Hermione felt that Ginny was acting as though admitting your deep love for someone right to their face was no more difficult and exciting than walking down a flight of stairs. She summoned up her courage and walked over to Ron. She was about to say something when she felt the words catch in her throat. Neither Harry nor Ron noticed anything. Hermione turned around and strolled back to Ginny.

"I can't do it! I'll get too embarrassed."

Ginny sighed. "Well, I'm sure there is more than one way to capture the idiot's attention. Brainstorm a few ideas."

So that evening, when Harry and Ron were at Quidditch practice, Hermione got to work putting together a list of things that might work.

Ginny's idea would work if I had enough courage.

I could make myself prettier.

I could give him a present.

I could ask him out, but that would require lots of courage.

Hermione decided on making herself prettier. She asked Lavender and Parvati for help. They were extremely curious about the guy, as Hermione had only told them that 'he had a taste for extremely pretty girls'. Lavender and Parvati were always the people to ask if you needed a makeover or fashion advice. They first got to work on Hermione's long brown hair. She had combed it so that it was not quite as bushy as usual. Lavender asked Hermione if they could cut her hair and straighten it. Hermione was not very willing at first, but she agreed when Lavender promised to make it only shoulder-length. They finished cutting and styling Hermione's hair and handed her a mirror. Hermione gasped.

Her hair was so pretty! It was a perfectly cut line that surrounded her shoulders, with her bangs straightened and swept off to the side. She could not help half-grovelling to Lavender and Parvati, who were looking rather proud of themselves.

Most of Gryffindor had been informed about Hermione, and so they didn't stare too much as she entered. There were scattered 'hello's here and there as she walked to the end of the table towards Ginny.

"Hey Ginny."

"Hi Hermione! Your hair looks so pretty!"

"Thanks, Lavender and Parvati wanted to experiment with it."

At the other end of the table, Ron was staring at the beautiful girl sitting next to Ginny.

"Harry, who is that girl?"

"I dunno, but I love her hair."

"Harry, do you think it's fair if I go having a crush on that girl there if I'm already in love with Hermione?"

"Probably not, but then Hermione doesn't know you like her. And on the subject of Hermione," he added softly, "where is she? I haven't seen her since dinner last night."

The pretty girl and the other end of the table turned their way to help herself to some toast. The girl's smouldering chocolate eyes were definitely familiar…

"Harry…I think that _is _Hermione. What has she done to her hair?"

"I don't know. Why would Hermione cut her hair? She told me a couple of days ago that she likes her hair the way it is…or was."

"Maybe it's to impress some guy."

"Like you?" asked Harry slyly.

"Nah, she'd never like me."

Meanwhile, Hermione had been having forced conversation with Ginny, but it was punctuated by Hermione's whispering every so often, "Is he looking?" She was satisfied to hear, "Yep," every time.

Hermione's first class was Transfiguration with Ron and Harry. They sat down on either side of her.

"Hermione, what did you do to your hair?" asked Harry incredulously.

"Oh, Parvati and Lavender wanted to see what this cut would look like on me. Stupid idiots. But I let them, and the results are quite nice, don't you think?"

Ron nodded fervently, and Hermione cast him a look that she hoped looked questioning. He flushed and turned his head to Professor McGonagall. Harry snickered quietly.

The rest of the week was much better than the previous one, but Hermione was slightly disappointed that Ron hadn't done much more than say her new hair was really pretty. She decided it was time to kick things up a notch. She went to Lavender and Parvati again.

"Guys, I need your help again."

Lavender grinned. "We're your girls. What's the problem?"

Hermione improvised.

"Well, he has a huge crush on this other girl, and I think he might like her more than me, and I need your help."

Lavender and Parvati taught her how to apply makeup and gave her tips.

The next day, Hermione had taken out the makeup kit that Parvati had lent her and looked over the tips. She decided not to overdo it today, just a light-coloured eye shadow, mascara, and lip gloss. After the makeup was on, Hermione looked at herself in a mirror and was extremely pleased with herself. Parvati and Lavender were pleased with her, too. On the way to breakfast, Lavender caught up with Hermione. "You look really pretty. I suspect that the boy will be yours by sundown." Again, Hermione walked over to Ginny.

"Hermione, are you wearing makeup?"

"Lavender asked me to. Wanted to hook me up with some guy from Ravenclaw, I think."

Ginny grinned. "Are you going to accept the offer?"

"What do you think?"

Ron and Harry had noticed Hermione's face.

"Is Hermione wearing makeup?"

"I think she is."

Ron groaned.

"Ron, how about if I ask Hermione why she's doing this to herself."

"You'd do that for me?"

"Um, yeah? Look, it's weird to me too. If she's doing it to get your attention, or anybody else's, I'll tell you. Okay?"

"Okay."

Harry tapped Hermione on the shoulder right after Transfiguration. "Hermione…"

"What?"

"What are you doing to yourself? First your hair, now your face."

"I'll tell you, but do you promise not to laugh?"

"Yeah."

Hermione took a deep breath. "I'm doing it to get Ron's attention. Is he noticing?"

"Oh, he's noticing, all right."

Hermione looked happier than Harry had seen her in days.

"Ron!"

"Did you ask her?"

"Yeah. I was right, too."

"What do you mean?"

Harry had hurtled up to the common room to give Ron the news.

"She's doing it to get your attention, mate! Now that you know she returns your feelings, you can ask her out without worry!"

"She…adda…wibba…_me_?"

"Yes you!"

Ron's insides were doing a happy dance. She liked _him_, and not anybody else! He decided to talk to her.

"Hermione!" Hermione stopped. Why would Ron want to talk to her? Had Harry told Ron and now Ron was going to tell her that he didn't return her feelings? Worries filled up Hermione's brain and packed it so full that she almost forgot to breathe.

"Can we have a word?"

_Oh no, oh no, oh NO…_thought Hermione. She followed Ron into a Peeves-free classroom and sat down opposite him.

"Hermione, I…"

"You what?"

"I think…"

"You think what?"

"I think I…"

"You think you _what_?" asked Hermione, slightly impatient.

Ron took a deep breath. "I think I love you."

All the worries left Hermione instantly and were replaced by dreamy, floating clouds. _He loves me_, she thought happily.

"I think I love you too, Ron."

Ron grinned and said, "I'd kiss you, but I liked you just the way you were."

He pulled out his wand and Hermione let him remove the makeup from her face.

"Keep your hair like that, though, it's prettier than your long hair was."

Hermione grinned and hugged him. "Thanks."

"You're welcome."

Ron kissed her.

Just then, Harry burst in.

"Colin! Hey, Colin! Didja get it?"

A small, mousy-haired boy jumped out from behind a desk, a camera clutched in his hand.

"Yep! Now fork over the money."

"Let me see it, and then I'll pay you."

"Okay, I'll develop it tonight."

Ron turned to Hermione. "Harry didn't really pay that kid to get a picture of us kissing, did he?"

"I think he did."

"Oh well. I think he'll give it to us, actually."

Hermione grinned and said, "Or maybe he'll ask us to sign it. One of the two."

Ron watched her smile and said, thoughtfully, "Did you know that you look prettier smiling than thinking?"

"Excuse me? You've been watching me do my homework?"

"Um, kind of…"

"Hey Ron?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you know that you look cuter smiling than thinking?"

"You've been watching me do my homework?" He laughed.

"Um, kind of…" she said, mocking him.

They walked out of the classroom together.


End file.
